Snow and weather reports posted on Saturday 30th May 2020

Furano Now!

Monday 21st November 2016, 9:20am

Weather conditions:

Snow

New snowfall:

3cm

Snow depth:

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Sunday turned out to be really warm with temperatures peaking at +9c and light rain falling for the first half of the day. The temperature plunged in the evening, and late evening light snow started fall which has amounted to a reasonable 3cm on the ground this morning. For the next six days temperatures will remain below freezing in the village and light snow is forecast to fall continuously. While there are no big numbers on the snow radar the constant trickle will add up to a decent amount each day I think.

The courses that are open have good coverage and are providing great early season skiing. The lower mountain needs a significant snowfall before any course can be openied down to the base area.

Furano Zone is partially open with Furano Ropeway operating to upload and download skiers to and from the upper mountain. It is not possible to ski from the top to bottom of the mountain yet. The skiable lift is Downhill Romance no.2 chair and the skiable courses are the upper part of Sailer and Spies Course, and Shirakaba Course. Restaurant Downhill is open.

Niseko Now!

Good morning from Niseko and here were are in the week when the ski lifts plan to start moving. The big question is... will they be able to?

We endured some rain over the weekend which washed away the white on the lower slopes again, but this morning we have some more snowfall. The lower slopes are now looking speckled white. So there is just a bit with 1cm to add to my snowfall tally from down here at base. It's colder again this morning and so hopefully, this time it will now remain cold and we can enter into winter proper.

The forecast has snow falling from later on tomorrow and a chance of snowfall every day through into the weekend.

It remains to be seen if there will be enough snow for opening as planned - there's not enough yet.

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Thank you to the person who pointed out my mistake regarding the opening dates of Niseko Grand Hirafu and Niseko Annupuri - I had them the wrong way round. It is of course Niseko Grand Hirafu that hopes to open this coming Wednesday (23rd), with Niseko Annupuri planning to open on Saturday (26th). Apologies.